Christmas is over and schools are starting back up this coming Monday here in Switzerland. We all know the adage of the older generation answering the complaints of the younger generation about going to school with, “When I was your age, I (fill in the blanks)____________ (had to cross a snow storm on my hands and knees every day / rode a horse sixty miles one way / had to eat the horse halfway to avoid starvation…).”

I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but here children need to know what they want to do with their careers by the time they’re 12 or 13 so that they can begin training specifically in maths or sciences toward that goal. I don’t know about you, but I never thought that far ahead at that age! I don’t know a child who does; so it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on them at a far too early age, if you ask me. Having said that, children here don’t have to traverse war zones, landmine fields, or floods to get to their school here. Some may have to cross mountains, but they do so in a school bus. Yet for all of that, education is one of the most precious assets on the planet; with it, the world lays open before us; without it, opportunities often remain just out of reach, or so far away that they’re completely out of sight.

So the next time you hear a teenager you know complain about going to school, just show them the photos from the link by clicking on the images below, and may we all remember to count our blessings!